We need something akin to a psychological autopsy. What did she think the law said?
My money is on she thought that a polygamous marriage + an overseas birth = citizenship troubles for her baby.
If, as her relatives assert, she delivered in Kenya she's be apt to panic and try anything she could to make the problem go away.
Simplest solution? Show up in Hawai'i with a newborn, and claim you delivered him at home.
"My money is on she thought that a polygamous marriage + an overseas birth = citizenship troubles for her baby."
As an 18 year old myself during that period of time I rather doubt her thoughts were of citizenship problems for her baby.
Imagine yourself as Obama's white grandmother in the '60s. Not only does your daughter exhibit a preference for marxist blacks and muslims, she's studying Russian with them! At the very time we came closest to outright nuclear war with the USSR!
If there was any military history in the family, this might be reasonable. But there isn't, and I can only assume Stanley's mom wanted Obama out of the fellow traveler scene.